Saturday, September 12, 2026 • Slight chance of storms. Highs 95-98. ⛈️

We received 217 votes on the Friday poll, “What do you most want younger Americans to understand about 9/11?”

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The lives lost and the families forever changed (34)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The fear and uncertainty of that day (9)
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ How people came together to help each other (83)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 How profoundly it changed everyday life (91)

New poll question at the bottom of today’s newsletter. (You can also suggest a poll question by emailing me at [email protected].)

By Sierra Pfeifer, KOSU
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing a significant rule change that would mean physicians receive half as much in reimbursement from Medicare for services provided on the same day as an office visit.

The American Medical Association and more than 150 healthcare organizations, including the Oklahoma State Medical Association, are calling for CMS to withdraw the proposal, arguing it could endanger patient health.

“We are talking about independent practices, rural physicians, who are bringing patients oftentimes with limited transportation and from long distances, to have several medical services performed at the same time,” said Oklahoma State Medical Association President Dr. Julie Strebel. “Under this proposal, we would no longer be able to do that without an up to 50% decrease in our physician fee structure.”

Strebel is a gynecologist and obstetrician with a private practice based in Oklahoma City. On a typical day in September, five of the 25 patients she treated use Medicare. The health insurance program serves people age 65 or older and some younger individuals with disabilities, and depends on federal support.

Strebel said her practice has never turned away patients for not having private insurance. Still, the proposed reimbursement rate reduction could change how she and other physicians treat Medicare patients.

Instead of addressing a patient’s unanticipated health concerns in one appointment, the change incentivizes multiple visits to the doctor’s office, she said.

“For example, in my gynecology practice, a Medicare patient comes in, and she reports that she's had some bleeding,” she said. “Instead of just being able to take that patient in my office to the ultrasound room and do an ultrasound and do a biopsy, I have to send that patient potentially home, have her come back on a different day … Because if I do it all in one day, I won't actually get appropriate reimbursement for her visit.”

She said she worries delaying patient care will mean more people go untreated. 

👉 Click here to read the full story

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